Zdzislaw Zurakowski received his MSc in Electrical Engineering in 1967, specialisation electric power systems protection, from the Wroclaw University of Technology in Poland. He also completed postgraduate courses in design of microprocessor systems, application of computers to engineering calculations and design, and training courses in software engineering.

After completion of his University studies Zdzislaw Zurakowski worked at the Institute of Power Engineering in Warsaw and 13 years at the Institute of Electrical Power Engineering at the Wroclaw University of Technology. Then he moved to industry where heworked 5 years as electrical systems designer at a Steel Plant, 7 years as rolling stock electrical systems designer. He then founded and becane the Head of the Independent Laboratory of on-Board Computer Systems in the Rail Road Coach Factory in Wroclaw.

For the last over eight years he worked for the Institute of Power Systems Automation (IASE) in Wroclaw as Senior Specialist where he was in charge of the European Union's Joint Research Project “Integration of Safety Analysis Techniques for Process Control Systems” (ISAT).

For the last three years he worked at the IASE Institute on cyber security of extra high voltage electric power substation automation systems.

1994 – 2000 Zdzislaw Zurakowski was Editor and Chairman of the Editorial Board of a special section "Real-Time Systems" in the Polish journal on computer science Informatyka. He was also initiator, organizer and chairman of the first national conference on design of software for real-time industrial applications held in 1994.

Zdzislaw Zurakowski is a member of the European Workshop on Industrial Computer Systems, Technical Committee 7 on Reliability, Safety and Security (EWICS TC7), member of the Technical Committees 50 and 183 Polish Committee for Standardisation (PKN), member of the Association of Polish Electrical Engineers (SEP) and member of the Committee for Functional Safety of the Polish Association of Safety and Reliability (PTBN).